Through The Crystal Glass
by Rhiannon A. Christy
Summary: Sarah is only days away from her thirtieth birthday, she reflects back on the choice that set the course for her life now. She doesn't believe just how foolish she had been till she is shown what life she could have had.Oneshot,angsty,fluffy and sappy.


Sarah let out the groan she had been holding since she left work. Or what she considered to be hell in a box. It was just that too, a small building that could no more hold all its employees than the few that had been working that day.

After her studies had ended Sarah had hoped to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming an actress. Sad to say that as she was now edging thirty, living in a one room apartment just twenty minutes from her father's home that her dreams had yet to be fulfilled.

She had remained hopeful for years that one day, just one day she would be up on stage like her mother had been. It had been two years now that she had stopped hoping.

She had been at one of her favorite local bars with two of her best friends. They each held steady jobs and seemed content with their lives. One was soon to be married as the other was expecting her second child. And there was Sarah, alone, childless and knowing she would most likely spend the rest of her days much the same way.

The thought had her so distraught that she had drunken herself into a stupor waking the next morning to find that her friends had dumped her on her father's porch. To say he was upset was an understatement.

Since then Sarah had decided that all thoughts regarding her dreams would be quashed before she became too depressed to even function.

She only had herself to blame of course. After high school her mother had offered to help her with landing roles. Sarah in a moment of self-pride refused to use her mother's name as means to making it as an actress. That and she had decided that she would go to college. Of course had she realized the scandal her mother was about to make would effectively destroy her career just mere months before she graduated, successfully hindering any help she would have been, Sarah would have taken her up on her offer years ago.

So now, here she was only days away from her thirtieth birthday and all she had to look forward to was her old worn chair and a glass of wine.

Damn! She leaned against the closed door furrowing her brows. She had forgotten to pick up wine at the market yesterday and hell if she was going to run out and get some now. She was finally home, or at least where at the moment she had the misfortune to call home. All she wanted was to rip off her work clothes, take the hottest shower she could and slip into her flannels for the night.

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Curling up in her old and quite worn chair she played with the edge of her flannel shirt. Sarah knew she was a pretty girl, at least she thought she was. But one never felt attractive in flannels, maybe that had been her reason when she had bought them.

Her friends were always complaining about her wardrobe. They had tried to get her to buy a couple of sexy nighties, saying that if she felt sexy she would be sexy. She never understood their logic.

But the more and more she thought about the way she dressed, the way she treated men when one actually tried to ask her out she came to realize one terrible little thing. She didn't want to be sexy, she didn't want to marry. At least none of the men she had met.

No, there was only one man who she wanted, and she had botched that up when she was fifteen. She had often times dreamed about this man. She found that she could see his face everywhere she went, at least at first.

As the years went on she saw his eyes watching her less and less until he seemed to finally given up whatever it was he was waiting for and left. Now she could only wonder at what life would have been like had she not refused him.

Deciding she was getting needlessly angsty, something that happened anytime she was alone, she turned off the television and strode to her room. She carelessly threw her robe on the bed and sat at her vanity.

It was the same vanity she had used when she was a child. The same whitewashed wood was cracking and the mirror showed signs of having been scratched. She had about bitten off the head of the mover for those.

She sighed as she looked at her tired face. The soft skin under her eyes had started to darken a few years ago. She always got sleep, maybe not that much but she did sleep. But her work tended to leave little room for properly eating. Thus she spent most meals stuffing her face full of junk food. She knew the dark circles meant she was lacking in too many vitamins.

Her bottom lip had permanent teeth marks where she would bite her lip in frustration. Everything about her screamed overworked and stressed.

She shook her head as she reached for her brush. She never cut her hair, as a result the long brown locks now went past her hips. She slid the brush through her hair before weaving it into a thick braid. Her brush making a loud clank as she threw it down on the vanity top.

For a few moments she did nothing but sit there quietly with her head resting in her hands, though soon her neck began to ache. She lifted her head as her fingers slowly worked the knots from the muscles. Her eyes at that moment catching sight of a long favorite book.

She picked it up and glanced through the pages, the book was an old edition with the original woodcuts. She loved this story, it always reminded her of her trip to the Labyrinth without actually being so close that she would get depressed reading it.

"I wish I could just go to sleep and be back in the Labyrinth." She set the book down a little too hard and glared at herself in the mirror.

"But you ruined that didn't you?!" She spat angrily at her reflection. Her image smirked at her as it stepped back further into the mirror. Sarah watched with amazement as the reflection changed to one of the throne room in the Goblin Castle.

She gasped as she watched herself glide elegantly into the chamber, she was dressed in the finest green silks and velvets. And atop her head she wore a small crown of silver leaves and crystals.

Her reflection seemed to relaxed and happy. She had just begun to wonder why when she noticed another figure walk into the room.

He was taller than her, and much thinner. His lean body wrapped tightly in elegant garb and his wild hair barely tamed atop his head. Around his next he wore the same pendant she remembered from years ago.

Jareth took her reflection's hand and gave it a soft kiss before pulling him closer to him so his lips could devour her own. He guided her in small circles around the room and Sarah realized they were dancing. He was whispering softly into her ear and she was laughing and blushing.

She watched as his hand went to graze lightly across her reflection's cheek and down over her chest and down to finally rest over her barely rounded belly.

Her reflection giggled as Jareth kneeled before her to lay gentle kisses on her stomach and whisper. The mirror Sarah held Jareth's head carefully, her fingers playing with his wild hair.

She sat there just watching the two in their sweet embrace until the image faded, changing to another. Sarah held her breath as her reflection lay beside Jareth in bed, his arms wrapped tightly around her as though to say he would never let her go.

The blanket on the bed began to shift softly but Sarah could not see either her reflection or Jareth moving. It wasn't until a small figure crawled up the bed she realized what had been happening.

The child with hair as blonde as the King's but eyes the same as Sarah's curled up beside her reflection who quickly wrapped her in her arms holding her tightly. The three in the bed held on to each other as though their life depended on it.

As Jareth woke and began to give a sweet kiss to the two beautiful girls beside him Sarah flung her gaze away. She couldn't watch it any more. If that was what she gave up she was more the fool than she had thought.

By the time she turned back to the mirror the image was gone replaced with her normal reflection. She held her hand to the cold glass a few tears slipping from her eyes.

"I want that, I wish that was mine." She sighed knowing that what she had seen was another life, a life that had not a chance to happen. She curled up in bed closing her eyes.

She didn't lay there long before the soft sound of footsteps rang through her ears. She opened her eyes to find herself no longer in her bed.

She was standing, dressed in the finest white silk she had ever seen. The room around her was softly lit by candles and the fire reflected beautifully off the tawny stone walls.

The footsteps grew louder finally stopping just a few feet behind her. A voice like satin reached her ears and caressed her skin.

"Welcome home Sarah."

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Author's Note: Ok just had an idea and thought I would get it out.

**Disclaimer:**Nope don't own it!


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